Professors voice their concerns over guns in schools

By Matthew Hunt

January 30, 2013

Discussions about a Missouri House Bill have left university faculty with concerns.
HB 70 would give faculty the right to conceal and carry guns on campus during school hours. Western's faculty have voiced their opinion on whether they agree with the message the bill is trying to portray.
Dr. Robert Vartabedian, president of Missouri Western and Dr. Robert Bergland, faculty senate president both stand in opposition of HB 70. Bergland said he personally wouldn’t like to see anyone carry firearms on campus outside of campus security.
“There are more chances of things going wrong, than there would be a chance of guns serving as a deterrent,” Bergland said.
Faculty have been portrayed as educated, intelligent individuals who are stable enough to handle guns on campus said Representative Mike Kelley, R-Lamar. He said he knows of professors who hide the fact that they conceal and carry on school grounds illegally. The bill would relieve them of hiding the guns.
Dr. David Tushaus, professor of legal studies, said he stands in opposition of HB 70. He said he doesn’t know of any legitimate research that supports allowing guns to be carried by teachers while in school.
“In fact, more research is needed on effective ways to reduce violence,” Tushaus said. “I am not convinced more guns make us safer.”
In recent years, most shootings that have occurred in the United States are in gun-free zones which happen to be schools. Dr. Steven Greiert, chairman of the history department said he supports the bill and believes professors with proper training and responsibility should be given the chance to conceal and carry on campus.
“Let’s face it, a lot of people doing these school shootings are mentally ill,” Greiert said. “We can’t prevent everything that happens in the world, but if we have trained people then they should be allowed to carry.”
The faculty members who were interviewed were in agreement that they don’t see the need for guns on campus. Dr. Edwin Taylor, assistant professor of political science said as a faculty member he also doesn’t support the bill. He said he doesn’t own a gun and doesn’t have any intentions on buying one if the bill passes.
“Arming faculty members would do little to improve the safety of the campus community and would only increase the probability of gun related accidents,” Taylor said.
The Faculty Senate hasn’t met with Vartabedian to discuss the matter of allowing guns on campus during business hours. Bergland said that if the bill progresses out of committee, then he thinks there would a vote from the faculty to either support or oppose the bill.

I'd be fine knowing teachers could be carrying concealed. That's the important part, "concealed." Of course not every teacher would carry, probably not even most would carry. It would probably be a minority of teachers, and they would all be concealed. Not letting a loaded gun hang on their belt all day for an accident waiting to happen.
But just the idea of students knowing that any teacher could possibly be carrying, could lower the chances of an incident happening on campus, because if a person was to ever think of trying something stupid on a campus that allowed people to carry concealed, they'd have to consider that someone may or may not be armed, and that thought alone could be enough to prevent someone from attempting something.
You may disagree with armed teachers, but you cant disagree with the thought of other armed people being around would make someone think twice before doing something stupid.
There is a reason no one has ever attempted to fire a gun at one of the thousands of crowded gun shows over the years, or why no one attempts to shoot up a police station, no one shoots up places where they know people are armed... Think about it before you assume more guns would make things worse, when less guns never made anything better.

Well if you intend on thinking like that, then every teacher should carry a "concealed" weapon. The purpose of this would be for the teacher to carry it all day during school hours to prevent things from happening. Crime obviously doesn't take a break for anyone. There are good and bad consequences of teachers carrying weapons on campus. I don't feel any more comfortable walking into a building knowing that a teacher is carrying a weapon. If they are so worried about reducing crimes on campus, then the school needs to hire more police officers for public safety. I would feel a lot safer if it was someone trained, like a police officer, to handle these situations instead of a teacher. I can disagree with the fact that someone might do something stupid knowing that a teacher is armed. You are neglecting the individuals who may or may not be mentally stable. At a gun show, the guns are probably in cases and probably aren't loaded with anything. Plus, they probably have so much security that it would be difficult for that to happen. I agree that there should be more individuals who carry weapons on campus, but let it be law enforcement not a teacher. I'm saying more guns would make a bigger problem because that brings in the idea of students thinking its alright to carry weapons for their safety as well. Also it brings all kinds of people who want to try and push their luck by going crazy and start shooting in the school. I can think of so many scenarios where it can be a bad and a good thing. My current thoughts seem to lead to the bad outweighing the good.

Lisa-Marie Uketui the way you say probably means you probably haven't been to a gun show. They are laying out on tables for people to pick up, there are no police officers. Anybody could walk in with a clip in their pocket, load a gun and fire it. No one ever does because even a mentally insane person would know it would be stupid to try to fire a gun in a place where everyone is armed.

Christian Mengel you're right, I haven't been to a gun show but I believe there is a slim chance of someone going to a gun show, picking up the gun and firing it in an open crowd. Since you believe that too, making that comment seems irrelevant to me.

Another thing, if we are a "Gun Free Zone" why isn't it properly posted? State law clearly requires posting of the "No Weapons" policy on all buildings and at the entrances to the campus. It begs the question, Are they serious about this policy?